Cyrodil has never looked better than it has in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered thanks to its Unreal Engine 5-enhanced graphics that make the goofy-looking NPCs more detailed than ever. Still, this is not the first time a project has vowed to bring Cyrodil to the modern age of gaming in all its glory. A couple of fan-works have vowed to do the same, most notably Skyblivion, which sought to recreate all of Oblivion in Skyrim, making use of this game's superior visuals and modding capabilities compared to the original Oblivion running on the Gamebryo Engine.

Unfortunately for the Skyblivion team, who had been working on the project for over a decade and finally had a release date for later this year, Bethesda shadow-dropped Oblivion Remastered with its impressive visuals. While the Skyblivion mod has likely suffered a setback due to the release of Oblivion Remastered, there is another grand project that is worth visiting, or perhaps revisiting, after a step in UE5-buffed Cyrodil. That project is Beyond Skyrim - The Province Collaboration, and while players still have to wait for most of the projects to come to Nexus Mods, one is ready to now.

Beyond Skyrim - Bruma Is Perfect After Oblivion Remastered

The Same Area In Completely Different Games

The Beyond Skyrim project is one of the most ambitious that modding has ever seen. As suggested by the game, the project seeks to bring the Dragonborn out of their beloved Skyrim to visit the rest of Tamriel. Currently, Argonia, Atmora, Cyrodil, Elsweyr, Iliac Bay, Morrowind, Roscrea, and Valenwood are the provinces being worked on, and while none are completed yet, players can get a taste of the Cyrodil project specifically. Modders can get a taste of this exciting project through Beyond Skyrim - Bruma, which got released back in 2017 and has been a stalwart in many modlists.

The Beyond Skyim project does not require a new game, and allows players to take their pre-existing Dragonborn to new provinces.

With over 11 million s on Nexus Mods, Beyond Skyrim - Bruma is one of Skyrim's most popular expansion mods and allows players to leave the country via its southern border in Falkreath to the chilly mountains of the Bruma region of Cyrodil. While very similar to the version seen in Oblivion, Beyond Skyrim doesn't take players back in time to see these places as they were. Instead, players visit Cyrodil as it is in Skyrim, or at least as the team believes it is. This offers new lore to uncover, new NPCs to talk to, and quests never before seen.

It is quite a surreal experience leaving Skyrim's borders by foot. While there are plenty of mods that take players to separate realms, like Coldharbour with Vigilant, or a new island, like Wyrmstooth or Falskaar, none allow players to simply waltz through Bethesda's invisible walls to the rest of Tamriel. Connecting Cyrodil and Skyrim makes the game feel like a true sequel to Oblivion, and after Oblivion Remastered, comparing UE5 visuals with ultra-modded Skyrim's, especially with a pre-made modlist, is an interesting exercise to see how different the same region can look.

Bruma Can Be Experienced In Two Different Time Periods

Two Hundred Years After The Oblivion Crisis

Skyrim takes place roughly two hundred years after the Oblivion Crisis, and a lot has changed in the world since then, especially with Cyrodil. With the loss of the Septim Dynasty thanks to Martin Septim's sacrifice, the Empire had a lot of cultural differences under the Mede Dynasty, and this can be compared when looking at Beyond Skyrim - Bruma and Oblivion Remastered. While the city of Bruma is structurally similar in both projects, there are some distinct changes in who lives in the city and what the buildings look like in Skyrim's time.

The Mede Dynasty took over after the Septim line ended, with Titus Mede I, a Colovian Warlord, capturing the Imperial City and ending a civil war.

More interestingly is the changes that the Great War had on the city. Those who have recently played Oblivion Remastered might that Bruma is home to the Great Chapel of Talos, but after the Great War, the outlawing of Talos worship by The Thalmor. While the Great Chapel is still there, its worship had to be changed to the Cathedral of St. Martin, a fitting change considering that he saved Tamriel from the Mehrunes Dagon in Oblivion, and these kinds of changes can be found throughout the project, making it perfect to compare Oblivion Remastered to.

The Beyond Skyrim project respects Elder Scrolls lore in general, and it feels like the team behind it paid close attention to the lore presented in Skyrim and the events of Oblivion. While it also served as a great place for players to learn about the Oblivion Crisis, a job taken over by the recent remaster, it also gives players a familiar space to come back to, if they have played Oblivion, with a fresh twist. Seeing the Thalmor crawling around Bruma really brings it to the time of Skyrim overtly, and the more discrete changes are exciting to uncover for players of Oblivion Remastered.

Beyond Skyrim - Bruma Feels Like A Proper Sequel To Oblivion

A More Traditional Step Into Familiar Ground

While NPCs talk about the Oblivion Crisis in Skyrim, with it clearly having a massive effect on the country, it feels a bit like a footnote compared to the giant, fire-breathing lizards and vampires that threaten to blot out the sun. Beyond Skyrim - Bruma does the more traditional thing with sequels and presents players with familiar ground to the predecessor. Characters like Martin Septim are directly referenced, players can visit familiar places like Cloud Ruler Temple, and the guards still have the same armor two hundred years later.

With the frankly ridiculous Skyrim and the stunning visuals of Oblivion Remastered, the province of Bruma has never been easier to compare during the different time periods. Seeing the mighty Chapel of Talos become the Cathedral of St. Martin is both rewarding, having been a part of Martin's journey in Oblivion, and sad knowing how important Talos is to the people of Cyrodil. There's even an overpriced hotel named after him, which probably had to shut down after the Thalmor had its way through the Great War.

The Beyond Skyrim project is still ongoing, and now that The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered serves as a new reference point, it will be exciting to see and compare how the rest of Cyrodil changed in the two hundred years between the two games. It finally feels exciting to be an Elder Scrolls fan again, with Bethesda doing something with the IP after years of stagnation. With modders and Bethesda working on the IP, the next few years could be massive for Elder Scrolls, although it all depends on the success of The Elder Scrolls 6.

Source: Beyond Skyrim, NexusMods